Liquor ban: State to lose Rs 950 cr

Neena Sharma

Advertisement

Tribune News Service

Dehradun, April 3

The Uttarakhand Government is set to lose a yearly revenue of Rs 950 crore due to the Supreme Court ban on the sale of liquor along national highways.

In the last financial year, around 80 per cent of the revenue was earned by the Department of Excise from 402 (out of a total of 532) liquor shops that have been affected by the March 31 deadline set by the apex court.

As of now, out of the affected shops, only 78 are now open, while 203 new licences have been issued by the Department of Excise. Significantly, the court orders are expected to marginally hit the tourism sector as most of the hotels and bars on highways have started shutting down. “This will impact the existing hotels, which boast bars and employ staff who would likely to lose jobs,” said Pankaj Gupta, president, Uttaranchal Association of Industries.

However, the Uttarakhand government is not keen on replicating the neighbouring Uttar Pradesh Government’s decision to denotify highways as district roads.

“We are abiding by the March 31 deadline set by the Supreme Court for shifting of liquor shops from highways,” said Yugal Kishore Pant, Commissioner Excise.

In the state capital of Dehradun, Nainital and Mussoorie, almost all major hotels, restaurants and malls that serve liquor are located on highways.

The hardest hit is Raipur-based liquor shop located on the border, due to prohibition in Haridwar. “The shop not only fetches the highest license fee but also does a brisk business. In the last financial year, it earned a revenue of Rs 18 crore,” said Pant.

The shifting of shops is also posing problems to shop owners, who are facing protest from people. “We do not want the shops to be located in populated areas,” said Savitri Devi, a resident of Dehradun.

According to the Uttarakhand Department of Excise, in the districts of Dehradun and Nainital, the consumption of foreign liquor is the highest in the state. As these districts attract tourists, the sale of beer also peaks in April, May and June in these districts.

Interestingly, in the state, the over-all consumption of Indian-made foreign liquor surges in the winter months of November, December, January and February, mainly due to the local populations requirement.